Challenge

Many dentists pursued dentistry to become skilled clinicians rather than become the chief executive officer (CEO) of their own business. Yet, in reality, to build and operate a healthy practice dentists must be both – skilled clinicians and savvy CEOs.

But being both can be a challenge. Most CEOs in other lines of work have the benefit of focusing almost exclusively on the business side of operations; from establishing a vision for the company to setting specific financial and production goals. Dentists, on the other hand, find themselves responsible for not only the actual production of their business (seeing patients and providing care), but also for effectively managing it. No wonder it can be stressful.

Recent threats to production and quality brought by challenging economic times as evidenced by patients deferring care and the underlying worry felt by staff, serve to further underscore the need for dentists to effectively manage both the business and clinical side of their practice.

Solution

Fortunately, there is a practical approach that alleviates some of this stress and empowers your ability to lead while not requiring that you to hire an expensive consultant or pursue a second degree in business. It simply involves using performance indicators (PI’s) and benchmarks to see how you are doing.

Performance Indicators are specific numbers and statistics that represent different aspects of performance. Successful PIs help you avoid data overload and quickly focus on information you can use to improve patient care and ensure business growth over time. When reviewed at regular intervals, PIs make it easy to see how you are doing and to demonstrate your successes to others.

Benchmarks represent the performance of others. They are powerful because they give you the ability to quickly identify your strengths and weakness relative to the market, refine you practice goals, and market your successes accordingly. Further, they empower you to motivate your staff around achieving specific, measurable goals and cultivate a culture of achievement and accountability.

Dental consultants have advocated the use of PI’s  - many emphasizing the value of production, new patient volume, average production per patient and patient outcomes such as patient satisfaction. It is only recently that the power of benchmarks has received more attention

You can have both Through Dentra’s online solutions, PracticeView and Patient Satisfaction (PatSat), you have easy access to key performance measure that highlight your performance and peer-group benchmarks that help you see how others are performing. Together, this information gives you powerful insight to use as you shape your practice over time.

Contact us today to learn more.

Learn how Dentra can help your practice increase patient satisfaction, productivity and profitability call 866.200.9220 or email info@dentra.com.